Magg to have book signing at MacIntosh Books

November 30, 2016

An author, who has been on the island for 36 years, has released another book sharing the deep history of the women of the island.

"The Remarkable Women of Sanibel and Captiva" was released Nov. 28. To celebrate the release of Jeri Magg's second book, she will make an appearance at MacIntosh Books & Paper from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 9 for a book signing.

"I have been here for so long, so I knew a lot of these people before they passed away. Being a writer I interviewed many of them, so I have kind of a different slant," she said.

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Jeri Magg

Since there were so many individuals to highlight, Magg focused on women that were not always front and center.

"They did the things that other women didn't do," Magg said of why she chose certain women.

Some of those women included individuals, who put in the bike path on Periwinkle Way, did plays to put electricity into The Community House, as well as the first woman who was president of the City Council.

The book took about two years to complete.

Her first book, "Historic Sanibel and Captiva Island Tales of Paradise," provides the history, while sharing the sites to visit on the island. Magg said tourists can go to the Lighthouse and follow her book to the end of Captiva.

"Basically I tell tales, many are true and some are legend," she said.

The ideas for her first book stemmed from working at the Historical Village since 1999. Magg said she would write down the information visitors shared with her.

"I'm a history buff, a history major in college. I am interested in everything historical," she said.

Magg is now hoping to finish a book of fiction.

Her first experience with writing was typing on a Remington typewriter when she was 4 or 5 years old. Magg said she used to write little stories.

"My grandfather, who was Irish, said 'oh she's going to be a writer,'" Magg said. "I always liked to write."

Her professional writing career began 35 years ago when she began writing articles for local newspapers, one of which was the Island Reporter and Sanibel-Captiva Islander. She also took classes at what was then known as Edison Community College.

"A couple of the gals said if you want to get into fiction, you want to get into nonfiction first," Magg said. "The old story, write about what you know. I knew a lot of history and knew a lot of people."

She was also one of the founding members of the Gulf Coast Writers Association in Fort Myers.

"It went from six people in '95 and I think they now have close to 200 people," Magg said.

She first visited the island in 1977 and it instantly became love at first sight. After her husband had an opportunity to retire early, and their daughters were still young, they moved to Sanibel from New York.

"It was an interesting experience because there were so few people then," Magg said. "We easily fit in. Everyone was so friendly and the girls made friends. We have seen a lot of changes, but the traffic was still bad."

Her book will be available at various places throughout the island, at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.